


Looks Like the Planets Have Finally Aligned

by Dead_Fireflies375



Series: DE Artfest 2020 [4]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Noir, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Case Fic, DEArtfest, Enemies to Lovers, Flirting, Gavin Reed is Bad at Feelings, Gavin Reed is a private investigator, Lazzo has a robot arm, M/M, Mentioned Character Death, Nines is the homme fatale, Private Investigators, Science Fiction, Upgraded Connor | RK900 Has a Different Name, a lot of romantic tension while they try to solve a case, no beta we die like men, so it's noir in space, the penumbra podcast au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:14:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 18,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25341517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dead_Fireflies375/pseuds/Dead_Fireflies375
Summary: The year is 4018. Humanity has spread out across the solar system, with colonies located on nearly every planet, moon, and asteroid in reach. Though, all of this would not have been possible if it weren't for humanity's first successful colony on Mars: New Detroit. Some people call it the finest human accomplishment. The rest of them live there.Gavin Reed has been working as a Private Eye in New Detroit for years now and he's been tasked to clean up some of the worst messes the city has churned out, even if it feels like most of the time he just makes the messes worse.But then, the patriarch of the Fratello family, the famous television stars who double as a mafia, is found brutally murdered with the words "Gavin Reed You're Next" written in blood above him. Gavin is on the case, even if it means he was assigned a partner that he doesn't like. But as the events unfold, Gavin gets in over his head and, god could they have given him a partner with a less infuriating smile?DE Artfest Day 16: Noir AU. aka the Juno Steel AU that nobody was asking for.
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Series: DE Artfest 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1814305
Comments: 6
Kudos: 14





	Looks Like the Planets Have Finally Aligned

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, y'all. Yup this is a Penumbra AU. It's your standard run of the mill Noir AU except it's on Mars and in the future. Y'all who are familiar with TPP will recognize that this is specifically the "Juno Steel and the Murderous Mask" arc and generally the plot points will align with that but with Reed900 shenanigans instead lmao.
> 
> Also! I am a big advocate of calling Nines, well, Nines. However, there is a very specific plot-relevant reason why his name is RK for most of this. It's for narrative flow and I promise that there is an in-story explanation eventually so just hang tight if calling Nines something other than Nines is as hard for you as it is for me.
> 
> Title comes from Planets - Ranae. She's a good friend of mine and is an independent queer artist and has an apparel store. You can find her on ig @sammisglasses or @faeforestapparel for her store and she's on all music platforms as Ranae.
> 
> Enjoy reading this! I had lots of fun writing it and I hope y'all will like it!

New Detroit. Once heralded the greatest technological advancement of humankind, the city remained a symbol of the beginning of humanity’s quest to explore space. It had been the first successful settlement on Mars, named after the founder’s hometown on Earth. For over a thousand years now, it has remained a staple of Mars’ culture. Of course, humanity has now extended much farther than only Mars, with settlements going out as far as Neptune. But still, New Detroit was heralded by the majority of those across the solar system as the shining star of human achievement. The ones who didn’t see it like that? Well, they’re the ones who live there.

Gavin Reed was born and raised in the slums of New Detroit. He knew far too well about the dark side of the city. The dark messy side under the glitz and glamour of the rich upper class. It wasn’t until he became a Private Eye that he learned that the rich had the same dark messiness that the slums had, they just could hire someone to clean up. Someone like him. But for all the cleaning up he tried to do, Gavin couldn’t help but feel like he only just made things messier.

The idea of mess was at the forefront of his mind as he looked at the picture he had just been sent. It was from the Fratello’s Trophy Room. The Fratello family was one of the top families of New Detroit. Part TV sensations, part large scale mafia, the Fratellos were the poster children of New Detroit. There was little coverup of the family’s sinister connections, in fact, most of it was broadcasted on live TV. One proper investigation could easily put the whole family behind bars for life. But as Gavin had learned, when it came to the New Detroit Police Department, the words “proper” and “investigation” hardly went together, especially not if you were rich enough to buy them out and the Fratellos were. But this time it looked like they were going to need to hire a serious cleaning crew. Based on the picture he had been sent, he assumed someone had been murdered in the trophy room, but it was kind of hard to tell if it was only one person under the sheer amount of blood and gore that covered the front of the Trophy Case. To put a cherry on top, the wall above the decimated corpse had the words “Gavin Reed You’re Next” written in blood. Wonderful.

The noise of an incoming message from his comms distracted him from the picture.

“Hey, Gav? You’ve got a call coming in,” Tina’s voice cracked through the old speakers. He really needed to upgrade his comms.

“Yeah? Who's it from?”

“Not sure. It’s an unknown number. I’ve already tried tracing it about three times now and all my search results come up as being redacted.”

Gavin sighed. He knew what this was.

“Just send it through.”

“Are you sure? After all, it could be from a number of people who-”

“Just put it through already!”

Gavin didn’t like being rude to Tina. She had been his only friend at the NDPD and had agreed to join him when he quit and started his own PI business. Part secretary, part detective partner, she was pretty much all he had left now. But whether it was because of the death threat or the fact that there was a sinking feeling in his chest as he knew exactly who was calling him, he didn’t have the patience to put up with being nice.

The sound of the call being put through his line crackled out of his comms.

“The fuck you want, Kamski?” he spat out once he was connected.

“I see fifteen years has changed absolutely nothing about you,” was the reply. 

Elijah Kamski. Growing up as an orphan in the slums, you end up knowing all the other kids in the area. Most of them had no clue about who their biological family was. Any sense of siblings or extended family was lost on them. But genes are a funny thing and when Gavin and Elijah ended up looking nearly identical at age twelve, it wasn’t too much of a stretch to believe that they must share some biological relation. It didn’t matter much to them though, only gave them a begrudging sense of duty to each other. At least for a couple of years, that is. You see, in New Detroit, there are only two types of people: those who eat and those who are eaten. Unless you were Elijah Kamski. Then you were one of the third types of people, the type who got the fuck out the second the opportunity presented itself.

“Cyberlife still compensating you for selling your soul to them?”

“Quite handsomely, yes. Definitely more than your private eye business.”

“Yeah well as much as I would absolutely  _ love _ to talk with one of Cyberlife’s puppets, I’ve kinda got shit to do right now. So bye, talk to you in another fifteen years.”

“Ah yes, the Fratello case. I know all about that one, Gavin.”

“The fuck? Since when does Cyberlife give a fuck about some reality tv stars from here? Last I checked, New Detroit wasn’t exactly the focus of the major intergalactic task force.”

“You’re right. We don’t give a shit about the Fratellos. What we do give a shit about is the trophy case full of stolen ancient Martian artifacts. Specifically the Death Mask of Grimpotheuthis.”

“Oh, so Cyberlife is investigating urban legends now? What, you get tired of orchestrating civil wars and financing slave owners?”

“First off, it’s called indentured servitude and The Board of Fresh Starts is in no way affiliated with Cyberlife. Second off, seeing as Cyberlife was an urban legend up until a hundred years ago, you’ll forgive us if we extended some professional courtesy to others.”

“Yeah, well no dice from me, Kamski. Not really intending to work along with Cyberlife or the Fratellos. In fact, I’d say that those are the two groups of people that I would least like to work with in the whole galaxy.”

“I know about your issues with Cyberlife, but what the hell have the Fratellos done to you that would put you off from working with them? Last I remembered, you viewed death threats as more of an invitation than a warning.”

“Oh, I don’t know. Probably has something to do with the last time I saw Lucius Fratello, he put a gun to my head and promised that if I ever stepped foot on his property again, he’d air my execution on prime time.”

“What the hell did you do to make him say that?”

“I saved his son. Well, like 80% of his son. Doesn’t matter. I know the difference between a death threat and a promise to dissect me on live television. I’m not stepping foot anywhere near the Fratellos, especially Lucius.”

“Well, you’re in luck. Lucius is the one in the photo.”

Gavin looked back at the photo of the body. Lucius Fratello was the patriarch of the Fratello family, the executive producer. He called most of the shots in the family. He was all shades of corrupt organized crime with a stellar tv presence. A closer look at the photo revealed some nice, still intact clothing that Gavin could imagine Lucius wearing. Still was hard to tell for certain though, what with all the blood and torn up body parts strewn about the room.

“So Lucius finally kicked the bucket, did he? Okay, Kamski, I’ll bite, why is this case so important to Cyberlife?”

“Are you familiar with the Fratellos’ collection of Martian artifacts?”

“Yeah, yeah, Lucius does some archaeological special, digs too far underground, finds a chamber full of ancient cursed Martian artifacts, takes them all back for his trophy room, gets sued by the ND Museum, some stories about some spooky ghost shit, et cetera et cetera.”

“That is a gross oversimplification of it, but yes, that’s the general idea.”

“So Elijah Kamski, care to enlighten me on what that’s got to do with anything?”

“The Death Mask of  Grimpotheuthis was one of the artifacts dug up at the site. It is also the murder weapon in this case. I won’t bore you with the details of the legend right now. Essentially the mask is cursed by a ghost who haunts people and was used to split Martians’ faces into three parts. Someone appears to have pushed Lucius Fratello into the mask, causing the mask to attempt to split his one human face into three separate ones. And it succeeded.”

“Hmm. That’s really … gross. Explains all the blood. What it doesn’t explain is why Cyberlife is calling me? You guys aren’t exactly known for working with others.”

“In all honesty, if you were just about any other person this would be a call about your planned relocation due to your apparent involvement in a Cyberlife case. But you have a certain … value to this case. Enough that the director thought it would be more beneficial than not to enlist your help in this. Though, if you’re still just as uncooperative as you were last time I saw you, the offer of relocation still stands.”

“Let me guess, your plan for relocation is to dump me on an abandoned asteroid in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, don’t really see the appeal of that. I’ll do the fucking case.”

“Wonderful. Your assigned partner from Cyberlife will be arriving in a few minutes.”

“Wait, the fuck? You’re sending me some Cyberlife puppet to babysit me on my case? No fucking way. I’m not doing it.”

“Did you really think that we would just send you in on your own? Remember, this is still a Cyberlife case. You either work with him or it’s the asteroid. Your choice.”

“Fuck, Kamski, you know I don’t work with others.”

“Oh yes, I know extremely well that you're as impossible to work with as you are insufferable. Which is precisely why I made sure that I wasn’t the unlucky son of a bitch who got put on this case with you. We’re sending over Agent Richard King. He’s an expert on paranormal occurrences, especially with artifacts like the mask. Seeing your lack of knowledge on the subject, I suppose it would be quite beneficial for you to work with him.”

“Paranormal specialist? The fuck kind of crazies are you sending me, Kamski?”

“This or the asteroid.”

Gavin only huffed in defeat as a response.

“That’s what I thought. If I cared about your well being, I would tell you to stay safe. Here’s to another fifteen years of ignoring each other,” Kamski said as he cut the call off.

Gavin slumped into his chair. He had to get out of this. The job would be a pain on its own, he doesn’t need some wacky ghost hunter following him around and messing up his investigation. He needed to think of something.

He heard the sound of someone opening the front door to his PI office and the sound of Tina talking to someone. Fuck. He had to leave  _ now _ .

There was only one way out of his office that wouldn’t lead him straight to the man he was trying to avoid. He got about halfway out the window when the door to his office suddenly opened wide with the Cyberlife agent standing in the door. Gavin froze. The man was tall, really tall. And was in … really good shape. And the suit he was wearing did a good job of showing that off. He had those annoying black shades on that all Cyberlife agents had, but Gavin could faintly see the man’s eyes peeking through the darkened lens. His hair was dark brown and neatly styled and the smile on his lips revealed his sharp teeth. Everything about him was poise and elegance, Gavin couldn’t tell if he looked like he was about to kill him or deliver a lecture. He wasn’t … unpleasant to look at that’s for sure. As the man processed Gavin’s disheveled and partially out a window state, one of his eyebrows went up in confusion.

“Hello, I’m Agent Richard King from Cyberlife, but please, you can call me RK.”

“Uh, Reed. Detective Gavin Reed.”

“Yes, I figured. Uhm … pardon me if this is a weird question, it’s been a bit since I was last on Mars so I’m not up to all the current trends here but are you currently trying to escape your office through your window?”

“... Yes.”

“I see. In that case, I would really rather you didn’t. I’m sure you were briefed on the specifics of the case.”

“Yeah, that’s uh … why I was leaving.”

“Oh. Are you still trying to run away?”

Something about RK’s demeanor suggested to Gavin that if he did run, RK would have no problem catching him and it wouldn’t be pretty when he got caught. That was kind of hot if Gavin was being honest, but some common sense kicked in before he could test that theory.

“No?”

“Perfect,” RK said and sat in the chair in front of Gavin’s desk, “In that case, Detective, I feel like we should discuss the case together. You don’t need help out the window, do you?”

“No, I’m fine,” Gavin insisted before he not so gracefully tumbled out of the window. In the presence of RK’s sleek appearance, he became obtusely aware of how he must look in comparison. Between his far too old coat, disheveled curly hair, and sharp scar cutting across his nose, he was the antithesis of the put together agent in front of him. Oh well, not much he could really do about that now. Hell, his thrown-together appearance wasn’t even what he should be most insecure about at this moment.

“How about you catch me up with what you already know?” RK suggested, “We could do it over dinner perhaps?”

“How about we don’t do that and I head over to the Fratello’s mansion and do some actual detective work while you have your little senance or whatever the fuck?”

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible, Detective. You see, we are to work together on all aspects of the case. Therefore we should share all relevant information about the case.”

“Listen, I don’t give a fuck about whatever instructions your overlords of whatever gave you. We’re going to do this the Gavin Reed way. And the Gavin Reed way is I work alone.”

“Sorry to disappoint, but I can’t let that happen. You see, this is still very much a Cyberlife case. In fact, we’re in charge of the entire operation. The only reason they are asking you to assist is that the Fratellos specifically requested you for this. They’re apparently not too keen on letting strangers investigate them and this was the simplest way we could gain access. And well, Cyberlife doesn’t let nonaffiliated investigators just go on their own without another Cyberlife agent around.”

“Whatever,” Gavin sighed, “This is obviously a death trap for me. Just don’t slow me down, okay? I’ve got plans tonight so I want to deal with whatever spooky ghost wants me dead before that.”

“You’re awfully cavalier about this, Detective. Are you not frightened by the concept of a haunted cursed artifact trying to kill you?”

“Nope.”

“Well, then perhaps you haven’t been properly informed. According to legend, Grimpotheuthis takes on a subcorperal form in order to haunt and kill his list of targets-”

“Yeah, are we heading to the mansion or what? Not really in the mood for ghost stories right now.”

“Certainly, Detective. Lead the way,” RK replied, flashing a grin.

Gavin grabbed his blaster and car keys and headed out of his office. Tina was at her desk, where he knew she had been listening in to their conversation.

“Hey, Tina. Heading to the Fratello mansion. Keep the comms line open in case I need you to do some research. Also, you know the drill if you don’t hear from me in 24 hours?” 

“Kerosene is in my desk. No leftover evidence. Seek revenge,” Tina said as she typed away on her computer, “Try not to get murdered.”

“Won’t make any promises, Ti!” Gavin called back as he walked out of the building, RK at his heels.

“I must say, Detective, you seem to be quite well adjusted with the concept of your mortality.”

“Comes with the territory,” Gavin shrugged and hopped into his car.

The Fratello mansion was exactly what you would expect from a major crime family that doubled as a TV network. Huge, gaudy, and absolutely expensive. Probably cost millions of kreds to build and maintain. Nevermind about the fact that half the city was in poverty, clearly the Fratellos’ front porch was more important. The house was decked in some of the tightest security Gavin had ever seen before. The armed guards gave you the kind of look that reminded you that they would absolutely love to get an excuse to bash your brains out. The whole place doubled as a TV set. There were cameras in every corner of the house, in order to get as much content as possible for their shows. Considering how much sheer wealth was stored inside the house, it was smart. Gavin doubted that there was a thief alive that could break into that house.

“Pardon me, Detective, but did all of the guards who let us in have the last name ‘Fratello’ on their name tag?” RK asked Gavin as the duo headed to the crime scene.

“They keep things in the family. Fuckers breed like rabbits. Meaning, most of them don’t survive to adulthood and the ones who do will gladly gut you if they can score a few kreds from it.”

“Those are aggressive rabbits. Can’t say the ones I’ve encountered are like that. I’m more used to rabbits being small and cute.”

“Well, this is clearly your first trip to Mars. Word of advice, don’t go to the sewers.”

“Noted. May I ask you another question, Detective? Who exactly are the Fratellos?”

Gavin stopped in his tracks. “Are you being goddamn serious right now?”

“As we’ve established, I’m not exactly familiar with life on Mars. I only know the stuffy textbook definition that Cyberlife provided me. TV stars by day, crimelords by night. But I would much prefer your thoughts about them. And more specifically, why you seem to have a prior relationship with them.”

“Well, that’s easy. Saved Lazzo’s, Lucius’ son, life on a job. I mean, I saved most of him. Kid had to get a cybernetic arm afterward to replace the one he lost. They managed to spin the whole fiasco into a big TV special, racked in a lot of dough. Instead of thanking me for providing him with the most successful program, he’d run in the past five years, Lucius decided to thank me by threatening to kill me. Dude was a grade-A asshole.”

“Oh? Were the Fratello’s shows not performing as well as they used to?”

“That’s one way of putting it. Ol’ Lucius seemed to be running low on ideas and was making bad business plans. Squandering money on shit. He’d take ideas from anybody, good or bad. A lot flopped. It’s also why I’m even involved with this mess.”

“Why is that? Did you give him an idea of a show?”

“Well, before he told me that he would kill me if I ever stepped foot here again, Lucius asked me what kind of TV program someone like me would watch. I told him anything that Tina puts on. He didn’t like that answer. So I said right now all I wanted to see is for him to dig himself into a giant hole.”

“And that’s what inspired him to do the archaeology special and find the mask?”

“Bingo. Keep that up, RK, and maybe you’ll contribute something else today besides your ghost shit.”

“I’m a man of many talents, Detective Reed. Here’s hoping a few of them come in handy,” RK replied with a wink.

Gavin was definitely not blushing at all. Not one bit. 

“Come on. The crime scene is through these doors,” Gavin said, changing the topic and gesturing to the doors right ahead of them.

“Allow me, Detective Reed,” RK said with a smile as he reached for the door handle.

“I can open my own doors.”

“Please. I insist,” and there was not much Gavin had to say against that.

The doors pushed opened to reveal the art gallery, the room right before the trophy room. It was something alright. Lucius knew what he liked and he filled his rooms with it. The mask wasn’t the only ancient cursed artifact that could kill you in this mansion. It was macabre to put it lightly.

“Remarkable. All these symbols and instruments of death together in one area. It is quite a place to die in,” RK remarked as they walked into the room.

“Eh, doesn’t make my top ten list of places I’d pick to die,” Gavin shrugged.

“Oh? And where does Gavin Reed intend to shuffle off this mortal coil?”

“Not going to set my expectations too high. I’ll probably get a cold wet ditch like everyone else. Maybe if I’m lucky, I can have it to myself.”

“Just that? You should aspire for something greater.”

“Fine. A warm ditch then.”

“You certainly make light of your own inevitable end a lot.”

“You got a problem with that?”

“No, quite the opposite. I find it rather charming. The idea of you staring death in the face and laughing, it’s quite the sight.”

“Yeah well, I don’t think I’ll be laughing much here. This room is too goddamn creepy.”

“Oh really? What happened to all your skepticism about the paranormal?”

“Oh, your ghost shit is still complete and utter bullshit as far as I’m concerned. No, I’m more on edge because of the whole ‘Gavin Reed you’re next’ written in blood in the room right by us. Somebody wants me dead and they’re in this mansion.”

“Ah, yes. That is understandable. However, the literature surrounding the mask suggests that the spirit doesn’t exactly want you dead per se-”

“I don’t give a fuck what the goddamn literature says. No fucking spirit demon is going to try to end my life. You know who probably will? A Fratello. And there’s a long list of them who could have a reason for wanting me dead.”

“Gavin Reed,” a deep loud voice suddenly echoed throughout the room.

“Great,” Gavin sighed and rolled his eyes.

“You’re next, Gavin Reed,” the voice continued.

“Fascinating,” RK remarked, looking more curious than concerned at the situation.

“Turn around, Gavin Reed,” the voice commanded, “Your end has finally come, Gavin Reed. Put your hands in the air or I will smite the ground you stand on.”

“I would suggest following the spirit’s orders,” RK whispered, “They may lessen some of your suffering for good behavior.”

“Fuck off,” Gavin muttered. “Okay fine, whatever,” he then called out in the direction of the voice, “Look my hands are up. Now can you come out now? I’ve kinda got a case that I’m working on right now and it would be very helpful if-”

“Silence, Gavin Reed!” the voice cut him off, “Now repeat after me: I, Gavin Reed, forfeit my soul to The Great Grimpotheuthis.”

Gavin sighed. He better be getting compensated well for this. “I, Gavin Reed, forfeit my soul to The Great Grimpotheuthis,” he repeated in a flat tone.

“And I really wish that I called my friends more before I died,” the voice continued on, “Also I regret my haircut it makes me look dumb.”

“Fuck off,” Gavin retorted.

“Say it!” the voice commanded.

“Lazzo, I know it’s you. Can we just talk like normal humans right now?”

The sound of booming laughter echoed throughout the room that gradually turned into normal laughter as the voice effect faded away.

“You’re not much for jokes, are you, Gavin?” Lazzo asked as he popped out from where he had been hiding, a bright smile across his face.

Lazarus “Lazzo” Fratello. One of the two children of the mainline of the Fratello family. As far as kids who’ve spent their whole life on television and neck-deep in organized crime, he turned out pretty okay. As far as functioning humans went, not so much. Kid had a criminal streak in him, not to mention he was also annoying as hell. For a Fratello, only having some theft, black market dealings, and impersonation of a medical professional on his record was pretty tame. And despite being annoying, at least the kid wasn’t insufferable. Probably why Gavin had gotten along with him in the first place. After he lost his arm, through no fault of Gavin’s, his cybernetic arm became a new fashion staple to go along with his trademarked LED boa. The Fratellos racked in a lot of money through his trademark, which was good because his on-air specials weren’t competing well with his identical twin sister Labelle's shows.

For all the guy’s faults, Gavin liked the kid. Didn’t mean he trusted him though. Kid was a Fratello and a businessperson and in New Detroit, you learned that those were two types of people that you didn’t want to trust any farther than you can through them. Especially if you liked them.

“Knew that you would be showing up soon. Thought I’d give you the warm Fratello welcome,” Lazzo explained as he walked over to Gavin and RK.

“Yeah, well your ghost impression needs some work. Knew it was you from the start,” Gavin huffed.

“If you say so,” Lazzo winked, clearly not believing it, “Who’s Mr. Sunglasses?”

“Agent Richard King, at your service,” RK introduced himself, “Though you can call me RK, everyone does. The pleasure is all mine.”

“Hmm. Didn’t know you started working with others, Gavin.”

“I don’t. It’s a long story.”

“Well, I suppose you’re here to talk about the old man’s untimely end. Janice told me you were coming.”

“Janice?” RK asked, confused.

“Their stepmother,” Gavin explained, “Where is she by the way? I was expecting the warm Fratello welcome from her.”

Lazzo shrugged. “She’s off somewhere in meetings. Death of a family member is a big deal. She’s got a lot to organize with the autopsy, funeral director, writers, you know how it is.”

“What exactly do you mean by writers?” RK asked.

“Oh, well we’ve got to spin this all into a TV special somehow. Milk the man for all he’s worth, one last final boost in profits from him. It’s what he would have wanted.”

“You guys are all ones for sentiment. Now mind leading us to the actual crime scene?”

“It’s not like he’s going anywhere.”

“Lazzo-” Gavin started.

“Fine, okay, it’s right over here,” Lazzo said as he began walking to the doors across the room, “You’re always so serious when it comes to work.”

Before Gavin could retort to that, the cacophonous sounds of metal clanging against each other filled the room.

“Damn it, Lazzo, we’ve had enough of the haunted house bullshit.”

“I’m afraid that one wasn’t me. Already did my performance for the night.”

“Yeah, well what was it then?”

“Sounded like it came from that tomb,” RK observed.

“Come on, RK, there isn’t a tomb in here. This is an art gallery,” Gavin responded.

“Don’t be ridiculous, of course, there is. What kind of person do you take my late father for? Besides, what else would that be?” Lazzo asked as he gestured to the side of the room that Gavin had not been paying attention to.

“I don’t know, probably just a decorative massive stone door with ‘Rest in Peace’ written on it,” Gavin sighed, “Why does your family have to be so fucking weird?”

“Hey, crazy sells,” Lazzo laughed.

They were now interrupted by the sound of a loud monstrous growl that caused Gavin to jump back in alarm.

“Jesus fucking Christ! What the hell is that thing?”

“Are you scared, Gavin?” Lazzo teased.

“Are you saying that you’re cool with what sounds like a monster running around in your home?”

“Hey, don’t talk about my sister like that when she’s not here,” Lazzo joked, earning himself only a stern glare from Gavin. “It’s probably just more ghosts wanting to kill you, Gavin, I wouldn’t pay any attention to it,” Lazzo shrugged, “Come on, you’ve got a crime scene to investigate. That shit can wait a bit.”

Before they reached the door, RK stepped ahead and grabbed the door handle.

“After you,” he said, gesturing inwards.

“That was cute and all the first time, but we don’t have to make this a thing,” Gavin complained.

“Quit stalling, Gavin. Got your corpse right in here,” Lazzo said as he walked through the doors.

Gavin huffed and followed him in, not quite liking RK’s insistence but not having a good enough reason to refuse. The room was … gross to put it mildly. It somehow managed to be even worse in person than it was over the picture.

“This is, uh, quite the scene, isn’t it?’ Gavin observed, looking at the blood-soaked walls.

“He really went out in quite a blaze of glory,” RK agreed.

“Can’t say I’m a fan of the big ‘You’re next Gavin Reed.’ You usually get my fanmail or is this a one-off?”

“Ugh, don’t remind me. I hate all that shit about ghosts and curses. Too creepy,” Lazzo complained.

“Says the person who orchestrated our haunted house welcoming.”

“Hey, it’s different when you’re the one doing the haunting.”

“Yeah, well, I’m less concerned about a Martian ghost and more concerned about a human killer who wants me dead.”

“Yes, well this is all very interesting to discuss, but would you mind Mr. Fratello if the detective and I began our investigation? Detective Reed needs to properly examine the body.”

“Me?”

“You did say you wanted to lead the investigation. Would you like me to recount your exact words from your office?”

“No,” Gavin grimaced, “That won’t be necessary.”

“You’re not put off by a bit of blood, are you?” RK asked with that annoyingly perfect smug smirk of his. The kind that made you feel like he knew everything there was to know about you and he was still making up his mind about how he felt about you.

And “a bit of blood” didn’t feel correct. Gavin would probably have used words like “a huge fucking amount of blood that was covering everything” to describe it. But as much as he hated to admit it, he wasn’t going to look weak in front of RK. So he braced himself and looked into the trophy case.

There was something where Lucius’ face was supposed to be. It didn’t really look like a mask. It was more of a compressed folding chair in the spot where his head used to be. Gavin doubted that if there was a face in there, that it still looked like much of a face anymore.

“Find anything?” RK asked.

“Oh, you know, just some good ideas to sell to some horror slasher writers.”

“You haven’t even seen the best part yet,” RK remarked and suddenly Gavin felt his hand on Gavin’s waist as he pushed him to the side.

“H-hey, the fuck?” Gavin stuttered out as the tall man moved Gavin out of the way.

“Look,” RK said and pressed some part of the mask.

Suddenly, the damn thing was exploding like an accordion. It was clearly meant for some creature that had three small heads, each with nearly inhuman features on them. Lucius’s singular big head had seemed to have been split pretty evenly between the three. It was very gross to look at it.

“You know, you’re right, RK. This is somehow worse.”

“I wouldn’t say that. It’s quite fascinating, is it not? It really calls into question what kind of bodily structure Martians possessed that allowed them to-”

“Yeah, I’m going to need you to can this anatomy lesson right here before I fucking puke.”

Lazzo heavily sighed. “You better get him out of there, Agent. If you mess up his trophy case, then I know for a fact that dad is going to come back and haunt you.”

“Hate to break it to ya, kid,” Gavin said as he got away from the graphic murder scene, “But that case is already pretty messed up.”

“Pfft, the blood? That’ll come out easily. The damn thing is supposed to get covered in it.”

“I’m sorry, what now?”

“I assume that Mr. Fratello is referring to the locks,” RK cut in, “There appears to be some special kind of DNA based locks on the case. It’s a quite simple concept. In order for the case to be open, someone must put the blood with the correct DNA signature onto the lock. It’s a quite thief-proof method. I suspect only the greatest thief in the galaxy could ever accomplish such a heist,” RK said with a wink.

“Is he right?” Gavin asked, turning to Lazzo, “Anytime good old Lucius wanted to play with his death mask, he had to cut his hand open and bleed all over both the locks?”

“Not both,” Lazzo clarified, “Only one was attuned to him. He wanted to make it as thief-proof as possible. The other lock was attuned to Labelle’s DNA … and of course mine as well.”

“You know how that sounds, Lazzo?”

“Hey, don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what? This is how I look at all my friends who have a 50/50 chance of being a murderer on a case I’m investigating.”

“Listen, I didn’t kill him.”

“Uhm, Mr. Fratello,” RK interrupted, “does your family have any other plans for the mask? I’d like to remove it so I can better examine it and run some tests.”

“Knock yourself out,” Lazzo shrugged.

“Hey, say hi to the old man for me,” Gavin said as RK went to remove the mask. “And, uh, thanks … RK,” Gavin muttered quieter.

“Anytime, Detective,” RK replied with another smile and wink combo. Gavin wished he’d stop doing those. It was … distracting.

“Can’t lie, it’s a bit weird seeing Lucius’ corpse on the ground,” Gavin said as he turned back to Lazzo, “Knew I’d have to investigate the guy at some point, just never thought he’d be the victim.”

“Eh, I wouldn’t rule it out yet. Bastard cheated everyone in life, wouldn’t put it past him to cheat death as well.”

“You know, Lazzo, you honestly don’t seem too torn up about the fact your dad’s brutalized corpse is lying about twenty feet away from us. He cheated you recently?”

“No … just easier to act like he did.”

“So what were you looking for when you walked in here right now?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Come on, Lazzo, doesn’t take a detective to figure that one out. First thing you went to in here was that plant in the corner, not Lucius’ corpse lying beneath my loving fan mail. Care to explain?”

“Look, is this a chat between two old friends catching up or an interrogation?”

“You already know the answer to that one, kid. I was put on this case and I intend to solve it. I wouldn’t recommend starting to lie now, I’ll just figure out the truth anyway.”

“You’re always so serious when you’re focused on work,” Lazzo pouted.

“Yeah, well, in case you’ve forgotten in the past five minutes, but there’s a good chance that the killer is after my neck next and the last thing I want is to have something in common with Lucius Fratello. So are you going to answer my question now or do you want me to find out the truth on my own later?”

“Look, what if I had one of those alibi things?” Lazzo asked.

“I sure as shit hope you have one.”

“I was out all night. Here, I’ll pull up the footage on my comms.”

He was right. The footage showed Lazzo Fratello in one of the family’s limos, fast forward a few hours and he was at a bar enjoying a few drinks with the people at the bar, skip ahead a few more and he was at some high-end store, another few hours and he was back in the limo. About as airtight of an alibi as you can get.

“This clear me?” Lazzo asked, hopeful.

“In my book, no one is officially cleared until I solve the case. You think Labelle has an alibi to match?”

Lazzo shook his head. “She was in the mansion all night. Janice grounded her.”

“Grounded, huh? Pretty sure she’s committed homicide on live TV more than once. What do you gotta do in the Fratello house to get yourself grounded?”

“She’s been spending a lot of money. Like a lot. Mainly on antique torture devices, some all the way back from the Fascist Renaissance. Trying to spice up her show. Janice doesn’t approve and she’s on lockdown till she can learn how to not drop thousands of kreds on junk everyday. So she’s probably going to be locked up here for a while.”

“Probably for the best. Always figured that New Detroit would be better off with her locked up somewhere. So what were you out buying, kid? That store didn’t look like your average convenience store.”

Lazzo sighed. “If you have to know, I was looking for interstellar haulers.”

“Haulers, huh? You planning a vacation from Mars?”

“Maybe.”

“This have anything to do with that show you were talking about airing a while back?”

“You remembered that?”

“Something about some documentary series about life on other planets besides Mars, right? Thought Lucius said no dice for that one.”

“He did at first. I mean, it still probably won’t actually get green-lighted. But before this happened,” Lazzo gestured at the body, “he said that he would give me a chance. He promised that he would. He said that … you know? I’m done talking right now.”

“One more question.”

“What part of ‘I’m done talking right now’ do you not understand?”

“What were you looking for in here?”

“Look, you have my alibi. I don’t need to prove anything else.”

“Eh, I’d rather make sure I tie up all the loose ends of this case.”

“Look, Gavin, sometimes shit is just personal, okay? Not everything is a mystery worth solving.”

“Maybe. Why don’t you tell me what it is so I can figure you which of those categories it falls under?”

“If you want to know that badly, you’re going to need to get a warrant. Good luck with the whole death threat/ghost curse thing,” Lazzo said as he went to leave.

“Hey, at least tell me where I can find Labelle.”

“She’s probably in her stupid workshop.”

“And that’s where? God, Lazzo, this house is massive. Mind steering us in the right direction so we don’t have to spend hours wandering the place?”

“Remember the tomb in the art gallery?”

“You have got to be fucking kidding me.”

“Try not to get eaten by her machines. And stay away from ghosts. Remember, you’ve got a spirit haunting you,” Lazzo added with a laugh as he left the room.

“I can’t wait for this case to be over,” Gavin grumbled as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Find anything over there, RK?”

RK had moved from inspecting the mask to standing over by the doors on the opposite side of the room.

“Oh, no. Nothing at all. Just wanted to get a better look at these doors,” he explained as he walked back over to Gavin, “They’re quite interesting to see. If Cyberlife allowed a permanent residence, I’d ask Mr. Fratello where I could get some.”

“You sure there’s nothing over there? You were pretty quick about checking.”

“In Cyberlife we learn that you’ve only got about seven hours to solve a murder before your chances significantly decline. Best to be quick about this and move on to our next lead.”

“Only seven? The NDPD taught us that it was twenty-four.”

“And suddenly New Detroit’s crime rate makes perfect sense.”

“Whatever,” Gavin rolled his eyes, “Let’s go check out that tomb.”

Gavin was dragging his feet as he made his way to the creepy tomb door. There was something bugging him, but more importantly, the place was damn creepy. He had little desire to find out what torture devices, ancient murder artifacts, or monsters could be behind that door that could cause the monstrous noise that kept periodically echoing through the room. Gritting his teeth, Gavin pushed the door inwards.

“This looks like less of a tomb and more like a spaceship,” RK observed as they walked in.

“Disappointed?”

“Not at all. There are plenty of paranormal occurrences that have been observed in sunken ships. Tales of immortal space pirates ravaging the galaxy before disappearing into thin air.”

“You can’t actually believe all that bullshit right?”

“There are greater forces out there beyond us. There are many mysteries out there, Detective. What happens after we die, why certain objects seem to bring luck or misery with them, how two strangers can suddenly become … closer.”

“That last one ain’t much of a mystery. From experience, I find they sell it at most bars and convenience stores. Just need some sort of id.”

“You really are quite the cynic, aren’t you? Is this normal or is the death threat getting to you?”

“Dunno. Plenty of my exes have tried referring me to a psychiatrist to get the name for it, but I don’t make nearly enough kreds to go visit a shrink.”

“You’ve been on edge since we walked into this mansion. What’s wrong?”

“Oh, you know, it’s just the person in this mansion that I’m on the best terms with is also the person who got permanently maimed because of my actions. Doesn't take much detective work to figure out how the rest of the family must feel about me.”

“You’re concerned that this is a trap?”

“Thought I was pretty clear about that.”

“There is no need to be concerned about that, Detective Reed. This is undoubtedly a trap.”

“Oh wow look at that. Problem solved. All my fears and anxieties surrounding this have just up and vanished,” Gavin said, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Gee, do they program all Cyberlife puppets to do that?”

“It's a simple observation, Detective. Lazzo was far too okay with me messing with the crime scene. Janice invites you in and sends her son to see you, but is nowhere to be found. Everyone seems to be directing us to this hallway within this tomb, full of horrendous noises,” the sound of whatever creature was in here broke through again, “Case in point. Everyone wants us to be alone here with Labelle. The only question left to ask is: why?”

“Or if they all have the same reason. They’re not exactly known for teamwork.”

The mechanical roar echoed louder in the room.

“That sound closer to you?” Gavin asked.

“I would really prefer to not have to find out.”

The sound happened again, even louder than last time.

“Yeah, I’m not liking the sound of that. We’ve got to find somewhere to hide,” Gavin said as he began looking for someplace they could hide. The hallway they were in was nearly empty. “Fuck, there’s nowhere hidden.”

“I’m not so sure about that, Detective. Here,” RK said as he touched something on the wall, revealing a hidden closet.

Gavin didn’t particularly want to follow RK into that way too small closet. But the sound of whatever was looking for them was not getting quieter. He quickly rushed in after RK and shut the door closed just as he heard whatever it was outside beginning to make its way down the hall. There wasn’t exactly a lot of space in there and Gavin was having some very conflicted feelings at how close the Agent’s lips were to his own.

“So, uh, care to explain how you found this?”

“Lucky guess,” RK shrugged, “I’ve heard about secret closets like this being hidden in similar mansions so I had a feeling I could find one.”

“Thank god for that. So now what? What’s next?”

“Nothing.”

“Not quite what I was expecting you to say.”

“It’s simple. If we step out of here, it will kill us. If it opens the door, it will kill us. Our best bet at survival is to wait it out in here.”

“Wonderful,” Gavin grumbled.

“Since we’re at a bit of a standstill, why don’t we set aside the case and spend some time getting better acquainted? I’m quite interested to hear more about you.”

“Wow, that makes exactly one of us.”

“Come now, Detective. We’re both trapped in this haunted mansion together. Is it so strange that I would want to know you better? To find out what makes the grizzled private eye in front of me tick?”

“I’m a bit more concerned about the monster out there trying to kill us.”

“Hmm. Gavin … it’s an interesting name.”

Gavin involuntarily shuddered at the way RK said his name. The way his voice floated over the letters of his name, it was unlike anything he had heard before. Gavin hated to admit how much he liked it.

“Are you familiar with the meaning behind it?” RK asked.

“Don’t really care about that shit. It’s just a name,” Gavin shrugged, trying to focus on literally anything but the person in front of him.

“I find names to be very fascinating. The way some people cling to theirs like it’s the most important thing they own, and the way that others are willing to throw theirs in the inferno behind them,” RK mused.

There were a few beats of silence between them and for the first time in a while, Gavin didn’t know how to read the room.

“Hawk of the battle,” RK said, breaking the silence.

“Huh?”

“That’s what the name Gavin means. It also means white hawk or sent from God, depending on the translation. Quite curious, is it not?” RK asked with that infuriating smile.

“God-sent, huh? Whatever god sent me must have a sick sense of humor. Unless he sent me to torment people because that’s all I seem to do.”

“Oh, I don’t know. I’m sure there’s at least someone out there who delights in your presence. Someone who feels that there must be some sort of higher power out there that brought the two of you together.”

“Ha, doubt that. If there is, they must not be pretty smart.”

Gavin didn’t miss the brief frown that crossed RK’s lips before disappearing just as fast.

“What about my name? Care to guess?”

“I told you, I don’t really look too much into this shit.”

“Oh, come on, look at me.”

“It’s kinda hard not to.”

“No, I mean  _ look _ at me, Detective,” RK said as he slid his hands up to Gavin’s jaw, holding Gavin’s face in place and forcing him to look directly at the Agent, “Look at me and tell me what you think my name means.”

Gavin swallowed hard. At this distance, he could get a much better look at his eyes behind the black shades. Cold and sharp. The eyes of a man who was equal parts cunning and ferocious, but made you want to trust him. Gavin knew that if he wanted to, RK could probably snap his neck right now and no one would suspect a thing. Suspicion seemed to slide directly off him. Gavin was definitely not paying attention to the way his cardiovascular system was currently behaving in relation to that.

“Right now, I’d say smug asshole who takes nominative determinism a bit too seriously,” Gavin managed out.

RK laughed and Gavin pretended he didn’t like it.

“Hmm, well that’s half accurate, I suppose. The name Richard means brave ruler. Fitting to have the surname King to go along with that, is it not?”

Gavin only nodded, not trusting his voice in the moment.

RK didn’t move his hands from Gavin’s jaw. The tension was so palpable that Gavin felt himself about to do something impulsive just to end it. Suddenly, RK turned his head towards the door they had just walked in through.

“I haven’t heard any monsters, in a few minutes. Do you suppose it left?”

“Oh, yeah, uhm, that. Yeah, I think it's gone.”

“We should return to the case, Detective. We only have those seven hours to solve that murder, remember?”

“Yeah, the case. Seven hours before the chances of solving it drop. Yeah, I remember.”

RK smiled again. “Shall we?” he asked as his hands left Gavin’s jaw. He instantly made note of their absence.

The two of them stepped out of the tight closest. There were no more sounds of monsters roaming around. Gavin almost sighed in relief before he heard the soft sound of a mechanical clicking noise.

“RK, you hear that?”

“Yes, it is quite odd, wasn’t it? Almost reminded me of-”

The clicking noise repeated, louder this time. Gavin braced himself as his blood ran cold.

“Fuck. It’s a cameraman.”

“What?”

“RK, I’m going you need to do two things for me. First, I’m going to need you to look right above us, real slow.”

RK cautiously looked up and Gavin saw the change that his expression underwent as he saw it.

“What is that thing?” he whispered.

“Cameraman. One of Labelle’s pet projects. Good old genetic engineering mixed with cybernetic enhancements. Combined the seven deadliest predators out there, reinforced it with steel, and gave it a camera for a head. Great for guerilla footage.”

“What is the second thing you wanted me to do?”

Gavin heard the sound of the creature getting closer.

“Run!”

The two of them dashed off down the hallway, the sound of the cameraman following directly after them. 

“How the hell did you know what that was?” RK shouted as they ran.

“Seen them before!”

“And you didn’t recognize that noise?”

“Looks like an upgrade! Don’t remember that many goddamn arms and claws!”

The cameraman roared.

“It’s gaining!”

“Yeah, RK, I can see that! How about instead of giving useless status updates, you start thinking of a plan like maybe, oh I don’t know-”

“Watch out, Detective!” RK called out as Gavin tripped on a loose tile.

“Fuck,” Gavin muttered as he closed his eyes, bracing himself for whatever gruesome way this thing was gonna tear him apart.

“It … stopped?” he heard RK say.

Carefully, Gavin opened his eyes to see the cameraman fully stopped and taking pictures?

“Great. I’ll just fall face-first on the ground a few more times and then maybe it will start going backwards.”

“Wait, Detective. I don’t think it wants to catch us. Otherwise, why didn’t it jump on us the second we stepped out of the closet?”

“Right, it was …”

“Enjoying the show?”

“The show! That’s it, RK,” Gavin exclaimed as he scrambled up and grabbed RK’s shoulders, “I need you to punch me.”

“What?”

The cameraman approached closer with a horrible mechanical growl.

“Dammit,” Gavin muttered before taking the initiative to punch himself in the face.

“It stopped again?”

“It wants a show, let’s give it a show. Now, hit me.”

RK sighed. “If you’re sure …”

“I am. Do it before it gets closer.”

RK pulled his fist back and lightly hit Gavin in the jaw.

“That’s all you got? Thought Cyberlife trained you better than that.”

“Fine. But I don’t enjoy this,” he said as he repeated the action, harder this time.

The cameraman stopped to take pictures with its camera head.

“That’s more like it. Now we’ve got to keep doing it until we can that door right there,” Gavin explained as he gestured to the door at the end of the hall.

“Shouldn’t you hit me too a bit?” RK asked with concern as they did the hit and run combo again.

“Just keep hitting me!” Gavin instructed.

Finally, they made it to the door that opened on its own. They rushed it and it quickly closed behind them. Gavin bent over, panting. He was getting too damn old for this job.

“That was certainly something,” RK observed, looking to be in a bit better shape than Gavin.

“Glad you enjoyed it. Now I’m going to fucking sit down in the chair,” Gavin gestured to the two chairs in the center of the room which were oddly the only things visible in the dim lighting. He would question it more if he wasn’t so fucking tired.

“Allow me,” RK said as he reached for Gavin’s arm.

“I can get there myself,” Gavin told him as he jumped back at the contact. Whatever was going on in the closet before, he wasn’t going to think about right now.

Gavin slumped into the chair, trying to catch his breath. RK sat in the one next to him.

“Interesting place, isn’t it?”

“Can you be quiet for one goddamn minute?” Gavin grumbled while pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Certainly, Detective,” RK responded. There were a few moments of silence before, “What did Lazzo say his sister was doing with those ancient torture devices?”

“Collecting them or some shit. Knowing Janice, she’s probably making her return them all. There’s probably not much left,” Gavin sighed as he leaned back into his chair.

“It’s just these chairs- I swear I’ve seen them before. They almost look like-”

Before he could get another word out, metal bars suddenly shot out of the chairs and locked the two of them into place. The chairs then moved of their own accord and had the two now sitting back to back.

“What the hell?” Gavin exclaimed.

Suddenly, the lights turned on, revealing about a dozen cameramen crawling the walls. The bright eye-catching lights, covering every unoccupied space. A right in the dead center was Labelle, behind her glass wall, dozens of buttons in front of her, and grinning like the insane woman she is.

“Esteemed viewers! Dedicated fans! People of Mars!” Labelle’s voice came over the speakers while the soundtrack started up.

“Fuck me,” Gavin groaned. How had things somehow gotten worse?

“Tonight, for your viewing entertainment, we will get to see our greatest episode yet. Tonight we will watch as a private investigator and special agent escape their deadliest challenge yet!”

“Detective, what is going on?”

“They escaped the monster in the halls! They escaped my mother! But can they escape this? Only time will tell dear viewers!”

“Looks like we’re getting our big break on TV.”

“Brought to you by the Fratello Corporation,” Labelle continued, “This is … Labelle Fratello’s  _ House of Terror _ ! Oh, Gavie! Remember me?” she excitedly cheered from her producer booth.

Labelle Fratello. Not exactly the kind of person you forget, but the kind you wish you would. Despite being genetically identical to Lazzo, she seemed to get all the deranged TV star crime lord action that he missed. A lifetime of always being in front of a camera and never having to face the consequences of her actions, Labelle had grown into just the kind of crazy celebrity that any psychologist would give anything to get to study. But Labelle wasn’t crazy, she was a sociopathic genius who has been spoonfed crime her entire life and has gotten to air every deranged idea she’s had on prime time with no repercussions. If Gavin had any say in the matter, he would have much preferred her to be the one who ended up losing an arm due to his mistake. At least he wouldn’t be feeling guilty for anything if it had been her.

Labelle probably would have preferred it too. She and Lazzo had enough sibling rivalry as it is, but when Lazzo got extra attention for becoming a cyborg, well Labelle Fratello is not someone to be outdone. A metal gauntlet on her right arm. She argued it was completely different from her brother’s cybernetic arm. She was right. First, he lost his left arm. Second, his cybernetic arm was an actual functioning body part. The gauntlet she was wearing was covered in jagged spikes and had her portable transmitter on it where she stored all the footage for her upcoming specials and it was more of a weapon than anything else.

“Detective, what’s your plan?” RK asked, voice growing in concern.

“Bust out of here and then deal with Labelle.”

“That’s very helpful, Detective. What about before then?”

“Smile for the camera, RK, you’re on television.”

“It’s so good to have you back, Gavie! I’ve been waiting to get you on my show again! Ugh, this is going to be so much fun!” Labelle squealed.

“Cut the bullshit, Labelle! I’m just here to get a confession out of you and this sure as hell ain’t helping your case!” Gavin yelled back.

“A confession? For what?”

“You know for goddamn what!”

“I’m afraid I don’t! But c’est la vie, let’s get on with the show! Places everyone!”

The cameramen began scuttling around to find the best angles to film as Labelle messed with the lights.

“Detective, mind shifting a bit? I don’t want to be caught on camera.”

“Sorry, RK, but no dice. I’m not much of a private investigator if I can’t exactly be private anymore.”

“What about a secret agent who is no longer a secret?” RK bit back.

“Look, we’ll destroy the footage after we figure out how to get out. It’ll be bad for both of us for that to air later. We can destroy the portable transmitter that Labelle has got in her weird gauntlet thing. It’ll wipe all the data.”

“Good plan. Now we just need to escape. Got a blaster on you?”

“I did. The commotion of everything caused it to skid away out of reach.”

“Great. Any other ideas?”

“We’re just going to have to get creative, I guess,” Gavin shrugged.

“Attention! We will commence filming in five, four, three, two, one! Welcome one and all to Labelle Fratello’s  _ House of Terror _ and boy do we have a show for you tonight! I’m your host, Labelle Fratello, but of course, you already knew that, didn’t you? Let’s meet our contestants, shall we?”

A spotlight suddenly shone on RK.

“In chair number one: Richard King! A special agent straight from Cyberlife themselves. What kind of mysteries could this dashing agent be hiding? Unfortunately, dear viewers, we don’t know ourselves! Our entire team searched every nook and cranny we could find, and yet there is absolutely no data about our man of secrets! It’s almost as if this man was merely invented last night specifically to come here today!”

“A clean record, huh? Impressive,” Gavin whispered to the agent.

“Cyberlife cleans them for us,” RK replied with a shrug.

Gavin didn’t know how he felt about that answer.

“And in chair number two: Gavin Reed!” she said as the light snapped onto Gavin, “New Detroit’s favorite Private Eye! Detective Reed was born and raised in the slums of our own city and has since been the cause of death or disappearance of every single person he’s ever loved! All his friends, his family, gone- because of him! What a tragic figure! Doesn’t it just tear your heart out?”

“Detective, what does she mean?”

“Shut the fuck up,” Gavin growled back.

“The only question we have about Detective Reed is: will he live to see another day carrying the guilt and shame of causing everyone he loves to die, giving him that oh-so rugged and angsty look that we all adore? Or is he going to have a family reunion tonight? Stay tuned viewers, and you’ll find out for yourselves!

“The rules here are simple: Detective Reed and Agent King are chained, back-to-back to the Throne of Spinning Blades. This classic piece dates all the way back to the 25th century! What an antique! Our friends in the chair better watch out, viewers, because time has not dulled those blades of genuine venom-brass! They are sharp! Our contestants here have exactly five minutes on the clock to escape before the blades have made their full descent onto them, cutting them to pieces. But of course, it can’t be that simple, right dear viewers?”

“Of course it isn’t,” Gavin grumbled.

“The chain that binds our two contestants together is also connected to the gear in the Throne’s blade works. That’s right, viewers, any and all hasty pulls on the chain will result in the blades speeding up their fatal descent. Careful boys, too much pulling and you might be getting an unexpected haircut! Well, contestants, are you ready?”

“Fuck you,” Gavin spat back.

“Wonderful! Your time begins in three, two, one! Time to escape from Labelle’s House of Terror!”

“Entertainment on Mars is really next level, isn’t it?” RK observed.

“Play our cards right, and you may get to see the rerun.”

“So obviously pulling on the chain won’t work. Do you have a way to cut it?”

“I might.”

When you live a life like Gavin Reed’s you learn a few things. One of those things is that you always better have a plasma cutter on hand in case you ended up chained up in some insane murderer’s basement. It was cheap too. All it cost him was ten kreds for the cutter, some thread, and a jacket sleeve. He quickly undid the thread and the cutter slid into his hand.

“What are you doing?” RK asked, “I can’t see from this angle.”

“Relax. Just stay still.”

“But-”

“Stay. Still.”

Gavin moved slowly. If his hand twitched a little, those blades would start speeding up. Finally, he got the blade right up against the chain.

“Fuck, it’s not cutting through.”

“Be careful, Detective.”

“I am being careful!”

Maybe Gavin should have told RK that he actually couldn’t see either of their hands, the chains, or the plasma cutter at this angle. Maybe he would have been more prepared for when the inevitable happened.

“Shit,” RK hissed as he jerked his hands back instinctively, causing Gavin to lose his grip on the cutter.

The blades came closer.

“Oh! Look at that! Our first tug on the chain. Careful boys, I have a long time slot to fill!”

“Sorry about that,” Gavin muttered to RK.

“It’s fine. Now can you grab the blade you dropped from here?”

“Oh yeah, totally. As long as you don’t mind wearing that death trap above us as a necklace.”

“Fine,” RK huffed, “I need you to grab something from my back pocket.”

“The fuck?”

“I have a state of the art plasma cutter in there.”

“Grab it yourself.”

“I can’t reach it at this angle.”

“Fine,” Gavin replied through gritted teeth.

Gavin reached back and had to restrain himself from jerking back on instinct.

“Ow! What the fuck?”

“What now?”

“The fuck kind of shit do you keep in there? Broken glass? Something just pricked me.”

“Nevermind that, focus on getting the plasma cutter. Those cameramen are looking at the chain like they’re about to speed things up themselves.

Gavin’s fingers finally found the plasma cutter and he took what he needed out of RK’s pocket.

“This feels pretty fancy. Not the kind civilians can access.”

“There are added perks to my line of work, Detective.”

“Yeah, well I wish you had said something beforehand.”

“You seemed to have everything under control. I didn’t want to interfere with your plan.”

“Whatever,” Gavin grumbled as he started to work on the chain.

“Less than two minutes left, dear viewers!” Labella called out, “Oh isn’t this so exciting?”

“I would recommend speeding up, Detective, those blades are getting quite close.”

“I know! Just give me a second.”

“Why don’t I give you all some fun facts about the star of tonight’s show: The Throne of Spinning Blades. It was invented in 2432 by Dr. Willhelm Bouchard. What a guy, am I right?”

“There, one chain done,” Gavin said as he finally cut through one and began on the next.

“Hurry, those blades are getting closer!”

“It was done in response to his complaints that the guillotine was far too sterile and was more of a piece of medical equipment than a method of execution. Oh, I just know that he would have loved to see our dear contestants as they-” Gavin cut through the last piece of chain, “Escape from my device? No!”

Gavin and RK quickly flung themselves off the throne and tried to get their bearings now that they were free.

“No, no, no, no, no! This wasn’t supposed to happen,” Labelle complained, “Cameramen! Get them back into those chairs! We’ll cut this part out in the edit.”

“Hey, RK, are you good with a knife?”

“Yes, of course, I am,” he replied as he caught the plasma cutter that Gavin threw to him.

“Good. I’mma need you to stall off those cameramen long enough for me to get my blaster from across the room.”

“But there’s so many.”

“Listen, if I can get my hands on my blaster, we’ll be fine.”

RK nodded and readied the plasma cutter. There were two cameramen walking directly towards them. That wasn’t for much longer because RK wasn’t kidding when he said he was good with a knife. The thing had a pair of gills spurting out blood on each side courtesy of Agent Richard King before the thing could even scream. The smell of blood seemed to distract the other cameraman and Gavin used this opportunity to dash across the room to where his blaster had fallen. He could hear RK fighting off some cameramen, but Gavin was more than confident that he had it all covered.

Before he could get to the discarded blaster, it looked like another cameraman had the same idea. Standing right next to his blaster, it looked like it was preparing a strike.

“Well, big guy, trying to get a good shot, huh? That’s too bad. You see, I’m the only one here who takes the shots that count,” Gavin explained as he rushed for his blaster. The creature barely had a moment to react before Gavin shot laser blast right through its lens.

“Detective! A little assistance here would be appreciated!” RK called out.

Gavin turned to look at him. There were two dead cameramen at his feet but there were three that were surrounding him. Three laser blasts later, and there were five laying dead at his feet.

“That was … impressive,” RK said with a look of wonder on his face as he walked over to Gavin, “Hit every single one directly through their lens.”

Gavin shrugged. “They didn’t call me the best goddamn sharpshooter that ever walked the halls of the New Detroit Police Department for nothing. Maybe later, I’ll even give you an autograph,” Gavin replied with a smirk. “Where the hell did Labelle go?”

“I think I saw her activate one of those doors in the wall and head out to the grove of trees out there,” RK informed him.

Gavin really should have seen it coming. He was more than familiar with Labelle’s tricks. So when he saw the camera hanging from the first tree, he really should have expected Labelle to be behind the second.

“Surprise, Agent! Let’s see you try to keep this one secret,” Labelle exclaimed as she readied her spiked gauntlet to land right in RK’s head.

Gavin did all he could do in the moment. He pushed RK the fuck out of the way and raised his arm. He always was a good catch.

“Ugh, Gavie! Now my arm is stuck,” Labelle complained.

“How do you think I feel?” Gavin responded through gritted teeth. The spikes had lodged themselves pretty well in Gavin’s left arm, the blood was already leaking out. “Good thing I’m right-handed.”

Gavin punched Labelle in the face with his right hand. The force was enough to knock her to the ground, the spikes dislodging themselves from his arm. Gavin smiled. Personal grievances against Labelle aside, it always felt good to deck some rich asshole.

“Looks like your show has been canceled, Miss Fratello,” RK said as he walked over to her, placing his shoe right over her throat in order to pin her down, “Now unless you want me to press my foot even harder on your throat, you are going to fully cooperate with Detective Reed as he destroys your transmitter.”

Gavin aimed and fired a laser blast into it.

“Not my gauntlet! Do you have any idea how much that costs?”

“Relax,” Gavin groaned, “Your gauntlet is fine. I only destroyed the portable transmitter.”

“I wanted you on the show so badly, Gavie. Now I’m going to have to do reshoots.”

“Look,” Gavin said trying to ignore the pain in his arm, “Cut all the bullshit. You murdered your father and we know you did it. Just confess already.”

“What?” Labelle asked, eyes wide, “What did you say?”

“We know you killed Lucius. You were the only one in the mansion who could have done it,” Gavin explained with a sigh.

“Get off me,” Labelle commanded, swatting RK’s foot, “Get the hell off me.”

Gavin nodded at RK and he lifted his foot up. Labelle sat up quickly, rubbing at her throat.

“What do you mean my dad is dead?” she asked, eyes watering.

“Ay, quit the waterworks. Your brother already showed me his alibi so yours better be pretty damn good if you want to get out of this.”

“Daddy is dead?” Labelle wailed, “How? How did he die? When?”

Gavin rubbed his temples. “You’re the one who fucking killed him.”

“I didn’t know he was dead!” Labelle sobbed, “Nobody told me that he died!”

“Miss Fratello, the detective and I are here to investigate your father’s murder. What do you think we were here for?”

“I thought Gavie wanted to be on my show,” she sobbed, “Janice had stopped by this morning with a bunch of papers for me to sign, but I just told her to forge my signature. She is so good at that. I can’t believe he’s dead!”

“Okay, Labelle. Let’s say I believe. You didn’t kill Lucius. That leaves a lot of holes in our case. The trophy case had been opened and only two people can open it: you and your brother. Now your brother was gone all of last night, leaving only you having the chance to do it.”

“Lazzo was here last night,” Labelle sniffed, “I was the one who went out.”

“No, he didn’t. Lazzo showed me the video footage of him going out.”

Labelle started laughing through her tears. “I knew my makeup skills had gotten better, but I didn’t think that I would fool the great Detective Reed.”

“The hell are you talking about?”

“You saw someone dressed as Lazzo leave the mansion. Me and Lazzo dress up as each other to get out of different engagements. With Janice grounding me, pretending to be him is the only way that I could get out of the house.”

“You got any proof?”

Labelle nodded and pulled up the video footage on her comms. She was telling the truth. A nearly hour and a half long video showed her using prosthetics and makeup to look like her brother before leaving the house for the night. Lazzo had lied and Labelle had an alibi.

“I guess you are telling the truth,” Gavin sighed, “That proved it.”

“Of course I am! Why would I ever kill Daddy?” Labelle exclaimed as she broke back down in sobbing.

“Are you okay, Detective?” RK asked, with a concerned look on his face.

“Yeah, shouldn’t be surprised, things were looking kinda good for a minute there. Guess Lazzo was right. Some mysteries you don’t want to solve.”

“Do you want me to call the NDPD on Labelle now?” RK asked.

“Don’t bother. We probably had to sign liability agreements at the front door.”

“Of course, you did” Labelle continued to sob.

“Come on, let’s go and wrap this up. I’m so sick of this family that I feel like I’m about to pass out.”

“I think that may be because of the blood loss, Detective.”

Gavin looked down at his left arm, now covered in blood. “That is a lot of blood, huh?”

“Let’s handle that first, shall we?”

“Lead the way,” Gavin said as they left Labelle behind, sobbing and wailing over her deceased father.

Gavin Reed made it a good ten steps into that spooky hallway from earlier before his legs decided that they weren’t going to corporate anymore. Luckily RK was right there to catch him before he fell. Gavin was definitely not enjoying the way RK’s strong arms held him in place.

“Careful, Detective. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, how are you?” Gavin asked, slurring slightly. The blood loss was really getting to him now. Everything was spinning.

“Let’s set you down here, Detective. I will go look for a first aid kit,” RK told him as he sat Gavin on the floor, propped up by the wall.

“You know, RK, you smell good. Never smelt a guy like you before. What’s a guy gotta eat to smell like that?” Gavin slurred out the blood loss really started to hit.

“... It’s cologne, Detective,” RK replied with a twinge of amusement in his eyes.

“Huh, never tried eating cologne before,” Gavin mumbled. “Have fun finding your first aid kit,” he said with a wink.

“Was that an attempt at a wink, Detective?” RK asked with a smile.

“S’not an attempt. That was one.”

“Is it customary on Mars to wink with two eyes or one?”

“One eye. Just like this,” Gavin explained as he winked again.

“Are you sure that’s what you’re doing?” he asked, voice full of amusement.

“‘Course I am!”

“Whatever you say, Detective,” RK laughed as he walked off.

Gavin watched him go long enough to ensure that he was completely gone. He may be a bit woozy from blood loss, but he had a goddamn job he had to get done and there was something he had to do when RK wasn’t around. He snapped the pictures of what he needed Tina to look up and sent them to her over his comms. In about a minute, he had his response coming in.

“That took you a bit,” he commented when he connected to Tina’s line.

“It’s not every day that you’re asking me to look up one of  _ those _ .”

“Yeah, well what did you find?”

“Exactly what you suspected. They definitely can be used for that.”

“Well, fuck. Thanks, Ti.”

“Pretty creepy though, isn’t it? Imagine hiding a bunch of those around in order to-”

“Shh,” Gavin cut off Tina, “Don’t say it out loud. Knowing the Fratellos, this room is probably bugged.”

“Ah, okay, Mr.  _ Detective _ ,” she replied, laughing, “So how’s RK?”

“What about him?”

“Well, he was quite the dashing fellow…”

“Since when did you have eyes for men?”

“I don’t. But I know you do,” she teased.

Gavin rolled his eyes.

“It’s fine, okay? Just fine.”

“You mean to tell me that you’re not working together?”

“We are! Just- this is just business okay?”

“Whatever you say,  _ Detective _ .”

Gavin heard the sound of RK coming back.

“Gotta go, Ti, see you later,” he quickly said as he turned off the comms.

“Who were you talking to, Detective? I heard the sound of voices when I approached,” RK asked as he crouched down by Gavin.

“Just calling Tina. Making sure our three-step plan for when I die is all in order.”

“That won’t be necessary. Remember I said that I’m a man of many talents? You’re in perfectly good hands, Detective Reed.”

RK took off his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves. Gavin was really trying to look anywhere but the man’s forearms. RK also finally pushed those ridiculous sunglasses onto the top of his head, giving an unobstructed view of his eyes.

“Obviously I couldn’t find you any spare blood for an emergency blood transfusion, not to mention that I don’t know your blood type. But I did find this,” he said as he held up a bottle, “Drink this and you’ll stop feeling so lightheaded.”

Gavin wordlessly took the bottle and began drinking. The liquid was sickeningly sweet and thick, but he started to feel his level-headedness come back. RK began working on cleaning the gashes on his arm. Gavin took this opportunity to really get a good look at the agent while he didn’t have half of his face covered with sunglasses. His face was flawless. There wasn’t a blemish on it. Gavin honestly didn’t know how a man who was presumably close in age to him managed to do it. The man’s hands were gripping at Gavin’s arm firmly in place as he went to work, but for the life of him, Gavin couldn’t tell if he was currently in pain or not. Because once he had observed the man’s complexion, his eyes wandered over to the few strands of his loose brown hair that fell over his eyes. Gavin would blame it on the blood loss, but he wanted to brush those hairs out of his eyes. That way he could get a better look at them. His eyes were a shade of blue unlike any of those that Gavin had ever seen. Sharp and piercing. It was the kind of shade of blue that made Gavin go from not giving a shit about the color to thinking that it may just be his favorite, only if it looked like RK’s though. And then there was that cologne. Gavin had noticed it when they initially met. But the smell had just gotten stronger over the course of the day. Gavin couldn’t place what it reminded him of. It was unique, probably from a distant planet, and Gavin was hating how quickly he was becoming used to it. It was just like RK.

“Detective?” the agent asked, snapping Gavin out of his train of thought, “About what Labelle was saying during your introduction-”

“Don’t,” Gavin muttered through gritted teeth as every muscle in his body tensed.

“I- I’m sorry. I don’t mean to upset you. But you seemed to be very … affected by what she said. I’m just worried about you, that’s all.”

Gavin heavily sighed. “There’s not much to tell,” he shrugged, “It’s a simple fact that people who I’m close to don’t stick around long. Whether I push them away, they end up six feet under, or they just straight-up go missing, every goddamn person leaves. And the one common denominator between them is that I’m the cause.”

“I’m sure that-”

“Can it. The sentiment is appreciated or whatever but that doesn’t change facts,” Gavin leaned his head back against the wall, “The most famous one gotta be Chris. Nicest guy I ever knew. Whole station was in love with him. The fact that he was friends with this asshole says enough. I get put on as the lead detective on this homicide case, this was back 4010 so I was still on the force. Damn thing turns out to be a serial killer case and I’ve got nothing. Not one damn lead. And then the killer picks their next target. He was at home, wasn’t even on duty. It was just a random attack. Chris Miller gets mutilated by the New Detroit Ripper while his son sleeps in the room next door and I was the one who got called to the fucking scene. I had to stare at his wife and child, knowing full well that I was the reason he was dead. Because I couldn’t solve the case fast enough. Tina was the only person in the entire goddamn station who could look at me after that. I left the NDPD not long after. And that’s just the one that made headlines.”

“I’m so sorry, Gavin,” RK said with a voice full of sincerity and sorrow.

“I didn’t tell you so that you would be sorry. I told you so that you wouldn’t ask any more goddamn questions about it. Good things don’t happen to guys like me.”

RK went back to cleaning his wounds solemnly. He looked guilty for asking, but Gavin couldn’t blame him. He had been curious, that was valid. Not his fault that Gavin was the mess that he was.

“What about you, huh?” Gavin asked, breaking the silence, “What’s a guy like you doing Cyberlife’s dirty work for them?”

“A guy like me?”

“The only other Cyberlife agent I’ve ever met is Elijah Kamski and you’re nothing like him.”

“How so?”

“For starters, I lik- tolerate being around you. Damn bastard was too pretentious for a street rat.”

“Hmm. Well, I suppose I began this lifestyle because it was my best choice. The galaxy is much bigger than you can imagine, Detective, but it’s hard to stay afloat sometimes.”

“Must be nice having a whole agency at hand to clean up all your fuck ups.”

“You still live with your mistakes. It’s just that nobody else knows what they are if you clean it up the right way.”

“Sounds nice. Want to trade?”

“Somehow I doubt you would work well as a Cyberlife agent,” RK smiled.

“You’re right,” Gavin said with a grin, “I’d probably get fired day one.”

“Well, all that’s left are your stitches,” RK informed him as he grabbed the stitches gun.

“Aw fuck,” Gavin complained through gritted teeth.

“Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”

With a couple of shots from the stitches gun, Gavin’s arm had been all sewn up.

“Damn, that went better than I thought,” Gavin admitted.

“Told you that I was a man of many talents,” RK said with a wink.

“Hey, RK?”

“Hmm?”

“Where are you going after this?”

“My next assignment, wherever that may be. Probably some far off planet across the galaxy. Why? That was not an invitation, was it?”

“Don’t read too much into it,” Gavin grumbled, looking away.

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” RK said with a grin, “Here, let me help you up.”

This time Gavin didn’t protest as the man helped him to his feet. He felt the way the man’s hands lingered on him and he really missed them when they were gone.

“So, thoughts on the case?” RK asked as they began walking out of that creepy hallway.

“Lazzo was the only one who could have opened the case. Lazzo lied about not being here. Yeah, looking pretty open and shut to me.”

“You don’t sound satisfied with that answer.”

“I’m not. Not cause I liked the kid or anything. But there’s a missing piece. At least one thing is not adding up right.”

“What about Janice? She’s quite suspicious. Still haven’t seen hide nor hair of her.”

“Can’t be her. This is too damn messy for her M.O. She was Lucius’ second wife and it’s pretty reasonable to assume that she opened up that job for herself. Took about five different experts to prove that the woman was actually dead and not just missing. No, she wouldn’t do something as attention-grabbing as this.”

“Well, no need to stress about it. We still have plenty of time to solve the case.”

There was suddenly the sound of a gun firing and shouting from one of the nearby rooms.

“Hey remember what you said about plenty of time? Not so sure about that one anymore.”

“Come on, Detective, let’s go.”

They rushed to the sound where the noise had been coming from. It led them back to the Trophy Room. Inside, there was Lazzo standing by the body, gun in hand, and a desperate look in his eyes. Janice was there too. As calm and collected as always, seemingly unfazed by her step-son’s current state.

“Goddamnit!” Lazzo yelled at Janice, “Where the hell is it? I know you have it!”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, dear,” Janice replied coldly.

“Just what the fuck is going on here?” Gavin butted into the conversation.

“Damn it, Gavin! You have the worst goddamn timing,” Lazzo yelled back.

“Detective. Lovely to see you again. Apologies for the late welcome,” Janice said as she shifted her focus to Gavin.

“Janice,” Gavin flatly replied. This woman was a different level of evil compared to her step-children.

“Hello, Mrs. Fratello. My name is Agent-”

“Save it for after we prevent another murder,” Gavin told him as he elbowed his side.

“Of course.”

“Now Lazzo, put down the gun. This doesn’t have to get any messier than it already is and you know it,” Gavin instructed him.

“Do I, Gavin? Because I seem to remember a whole series of specials throughout my teen years that proved I’ve got some real shitty impulse control.”

“That’s just how parenting is sometimes,” Janice mused to herself, “You can bring a horse to a therapist but you can’t make him take his antidepressants.”

“Shut up!” Lazzo yelled back at her.

“Janice, you’re not helping,” Gavin said.

“This looks bad,” RK whispered to Gavin.

“Yeah, I know,” he whispered back.

“Got a plan?”

“How about I pull another three hours out of thin air and we use that time to solve the case?”

“You two better stop whatever the hell is going on over there!” Lazzo suddenly interrupted, shifting his attention away from his step-mother, “And put your hands up!”

“Look, okay, our hands are up,” Gavin said as the two lifted their arms.

“Good,” Lazzo then pointed his gun directly at Gavin, swallowing hard and shaking slightly, “Now Agent King, unless you want to be able to look at the wall through the hole in Gavin’s head, you’re going to go over to that woman and you’re going to search everything that’s on her.”

“Look, kid-” Gavins started. 

“Just shut up, will you?” Lazzo yelled, voice wavering, “Nobody asked for your input on this!”

“I’ll do it, don’t worry,” RK said as he carefully stepped towards Janice, “If you’ll excuse me, Mrs. Fratello.”

“Of course,” she replied, still as calm as ever.

“You’re looking for a piece of paper. Got the signature of Lucius Fratello at the bottom. Right below a long list of broken promises.”

“What kind of broken promises, kid?” Gavin asked.

“Ugh, just shut up!” Lazzo then aimed at a vase to the side of Gavin and shot it before turning his aim back to Gavin’s head, “There. Do you believe that I’m serious now?”

“No, but I bet that vase back there believes that you are.”

“God, sometimes you’re just so,” Lazzo yelled in frustration, “You are such an asshole. I ought to do New Detroit a favor and put a laser blast right through your skull.”

“I think you should do it too. Come on, Lazzo, shoot me.”

“If this is some kind of fucking test-”

“It’s not a test. Either shoot me or don’t. That’s your choice, but hurry up will ya? Gotta let my secretary know if she’s going to have to cook me breakfast tomorrow.”

“Mr. Fratello, it’s not here,” RK cut in as he stepped away from Janice.

“What are you talking about? Of course, it’s there,” Lazzo said as his attention shifted back away from Gavin.

“I did not find a single paper in your step-mother’s belongings.”

“No! No, it has to be there, alright? There’s nowhere else it could be!”

“I keep telling you, dear, there are no papers,” Janice tried to explain.

“No! There is! I saw them with my own two eyes.”

Janice turned to Gavin and RK with a pitying look in her eyes that reeked of being staged. “Red Ice is such a horrible drug, is it not? The hallucinations, the aggravated emotions, the memory loss, I’ve been trying to deal with this with Lazzo’s counselor. But he-”

“Goddamnit, I’m clean! I’ve been fucking clean and I did not fucking hallucinate. I saw the papers. You fucking took them and I know it. Nobody else could have.”

“What papers?” Gavin asked.

“If you ask one more goddamn question, I swear I will-”

“What? Shoot me? You’re not going to shoot anyone, Lazzo, because you’re not a murderer. Some people don’t have it in them to kill someone and you’re one of them.”

“Fine. You want to talk? How about you tell all of us what happened last night? If I like it, I’ll let you go, hell maybe I’ll let everyone go.”

“Mind if I confer with the agent for a bit?”

“Yeah, I think I do actually. I don’t trust him.”

Gavin looked to RK and tried to gauge what the man was thinking. Those piercing blue eyes seemed to be asking if he was sure about what he was going to do, if he actually had a plan or if he was making it up as he went. But as much as RK was questioning him, the way he looked at him, Gavin knew that whatever he did, RK would support him on that. He was willing to stake everything on Gavin because he trusted that he had things under control. And he did it, so effortlessly. Like trusting Gavin Reed was the easiest decision that he made.

You could fix an entire goodman galaxy having someone look at you like that.

“Can you guys stop batting eyelashes at each other and start explaining just exactly you think happened last night?” Lazzo interrupted, snapping away Gavin’s attention.

“Alright, kid. Those papers are what you were looking for in here earlier, weren’t they? Pretty important papers, at that. Something you accidentally dropped in here last night. Something like the updated schedule for the Fratello network.”

“So what if it was? Doesn’t prove anything.”

“Never said it did. But when we first got here, you seemed pretty upset at the guy. Really came across like you had been burned recently by him. You pulled back here and there, but the message still came across loud and clear.”

“So what if he did? That bastard cheated every goddamn person he ever had business with. And aren’t you forgetting? I’ve got an airtight alibi.”

“No, you don’t. That video was of Labelle, not you.”

“You’re going to trust her word over mine?”

“Nope. There isn’t a single goddamn person in this room, hell this house, who I completely trust right now. But she had evidence to prove her claim. If she didn’t, I wouldn’t have believed a word out of her mouth.”

“What happened to all that shit about me not being a killer, huh? Was that just a fucking lie?” Lazzo had been getting gradually more and more worked up as the conversation went. By now he was shaking pretty bad, with anger, fear, or regret, Gavin didn’t know. Tears were streaming down his face. Gavin really felt like shit pushing the poor kid to this point, but he didn’t have any other choice. Because with all that shaking and crying, Lazzo wasn’t paying attention to RK who had snuck up behind him

“No, it’s not. You’re not a killer. You’ve threatened every single goddamn person in this room with that gun and yet you haven’t gotten close to shooting one of us yet.”

“I’ll show you not getting close-”

“RK, now!”

Listen, Cyberlife must not have spared any expenses when it came to his combat training, because RK was a force to be reckoned with that’s for sure. But Lazzo was smaller and fast and was acting highly unpredictable right now. This meant that RK was having a little bit of trouble subduing Lazzo and Lazzo was becoming a lot closer to using that gun than he had at any other point.

“Fuck off,” he grunted as he elbowed RK in the side.

“Detective, the gun,” RK said as he tried to contain Lazzo.

“Got it,” Gavin said as he went over to Lazzo and snatched the gun out of his hands.

“Fuck you. You’re such an asshole. I knew I couldn’t trust you. You’re just like  _ him _ !” Lazzo cried, gesturing to Lucius’ body.

“I didn’t lie to you, kid. I don’t think you’re a killer. I think this was an accident.”

“Does it still count as an accident if you don’t regret doing it?”

“Lazzo!” Janice chided, “You don’t mean that!”

“For once, I’ve got to agree with her,” Gavin told him, “I don’t think you did mean it. So are you going to say what happened now?”

“I told you already, the bastard cheated me. He promised and he just-”

“This about that show you were trying to air?”

“Of course it’s about my show! He was finally going to let me do something that I wanted to do, not something a bunch of writers wrote for me to do. I was finally going to get to control some part of my life without a bunch of goddamn producers breathing down my neck because I was the producer this time! And then I found the next season’s schedule laying on one of my sets. There it was: ‘Labelle Fratello’s House of Terror,’ right in the time slot he had promised me. That fucking cheat.

“I knew he’d never admit to it during the day with all the cameras everywhere. So I waited till it was night. And then I heard him in his stupid trophy room so I went to confront him. I had the schedule on me. I was waving it around, yelling at him about all his broken promises, but the fucker didn’t care. He was too busy yelling about his goddamn trophy case and its goddamn defective locks!”

“Wait, its what?” Gavin asked.

“‘How did you open it without me, Lazzo,’” Lazzo continued, ignoring Gavin, “‘why were you trying to get to my mask, Lazzo,’ ‘how was the case already open, Lazzo,’ and that was just so like him, wasn’t it? That self-centered bastard!”

“Wait, hold on, roll it back a bit, Lazzo,” Gavin tried to cut in.

“All he could care about was his stupid toys, while he had cheated me out of my life!” Lazzo ignored Gavin, “I was just so angry. I had poured everything into this show and he was too busy crying over a goddamn mask. I wasn’t thinking. I didn’t realize the case was open behind him. I just pushed him. And then he fell. I saw the mask close over his head and then rip him apart. I didn’t mean to kill him!

“All that creepy shit? With the message? I didn’t do it! I don’t … I don’t remember doing it. It was just suddenly there and I don’t know how. I didn’t mean to kill him, Gavin! I didn’t want to kill him! And now I can’t stop seeing his head get ripped apart in my mind.”

“Look, Lazzo-” Gavin started.

“And cut!” came a voice through an overhead speaker, “We got that all on tape, Mrs. Fratello.”

“Splendid,” Janice said with a smile, “Security! You can take him away now. He’s served his purpose.”

Security guards seemed to appear out of nowhere and grabbed Lazzo.

“What … what did I do, Gavin?” Lazzo whispered, eyes wide.

“Can’t blame a puppet for moving when strung,” Gavin solemnly responded as the guards dragged Lazzo away, “Only have to wonder how many of us are strung.”

“Well, gentlemen,” Janice said, turning to Gavin and RK, “I must take my leave of you. A patriarch gone, a son behind bars, this is a dark day for the Fratello family.”

“Not so fast, Janice,” Gavin said before she could leave, “We’re not done here.”

“Whatever do you mean, Detective Reed?” Janice replied, feigning innocence.

“There are still two things that don’t sit right with me about this case. The first one is the paper. Where the hell did it go?”

“That’s assuming there even was a paper to begin with,” she replied, “Hallucinations, memory loss, those are both clear symptoms of a little Red Ice relapse. That’s why Lazzo will be receiving our top psychiatric care in order to assure that he’ll recover.”

“A bunch of your shrinks, huh? So that’s where he’s heading?”

“I’m not sure I’m following, Detective,” RK butted in with a confused look on his face.

“Hoosegow. The local lock-up owned and operated by good old Lucius Fratello, oh I’m sorry, excuse me, by  _ Janice _ Fratello now. All those security cameras in there are supposedly for the patient’s safety, but we all know who owns the footage.”

“Labelle does. She uses it for her shows.”

“Yeah? And if someone owns Labelle? It sure is funny how a paper with Lucius' signature just goes up and missing. And this must all be so very hard for you, Janice, but you’re actually doing pretty good, aren’t you? Lucius had been draining your bank account for years now with his bad ideas and you were going to lose Labelle’s sure-fire hit to Lazzo’s dud. But look at you now. You’ve got a special about the young star who killed his father plus a series for the rest of his life of him rotting away in jail. Not to mention you get to milk his sister for all she’s worth. That sound right, Janice? Theoretically, I mean.”

“Theoretically. It’s a pity you have no evidence to prove it.”

“I really thought I had you all figured out. But you’ve been stringing us along since we got here, haven’t you?”

“That’s absurd. I’ve only just seen you right now when you entered this room.”

“You didn’t have to. Hey, RK, know the easiest way to make sure that Gavin Reed shows up at your place?”

“An invitation?” RK guessed.

“A death threat,” Gavin corrected, “You’re the one who left my little piece of fan mail up there because you knew that I’d show up here sooner or later. And when I did, you knew that I would head straight to the crime scene. And then that I would go straight to Labelle. And that I would beat her.”

“You sound quite annoyed, Detective Reed. But let’s pretend for a minute that you’re right, that your whole theory, which is still only a theory, is true. The fact it would be so easy for me to predict and control your actions: is that a comment about you or me?”

“Look here, Janice, I’m taking that mask to the PI registry. If there is one single strand of hair, one piece of DNA that puts you here-”

“There won’t be. And if you’re that serious about investigating that, I would stay away from any dark alleys if I was you. There are members of the Fratello family who don’t take too kindly to those who hurt their own if you catch my meaning.”

“Watch your back, Janice. Your luck is going to run out eventually.”

“If that’s what makes you sleep at night. Good evening, gentlemen,” she said as she curtly turned out of the room.

Gavin and RK took the Mask and dropped it off at Gavin’s office in his safe. It was pretty late at night by this point, so the PI registry was closed. That wasn’t enough to turn Gavin away from waiting outside. Well, it wouldn’t have been enough.

“It’s so cold out here, Detective. Don’t you think that we could go inside somewhere.”

“Take a look around, RK. There isn’t a goddamn restaurant open anywhere at this hour.”

“I didn’t mean a restaurant.”

“Oh.”

So Gavin took him back to his place. They were out on his balcony. RK had gotten a glass of some of the Hyperion Vodka that Gavin kept on hand while Gavin began working through a pack of cigarettes.

“Well, here’s to a case closed,” RK announced, lifting his drink for a toast before drinking from it.

“If you can call it that.”

RK shrugged. “Justice is a noble ideal to strive for, but we can’t always achieve it. Besides, Lazzo was still the one who pushed Lucius into the mask. There’s nothing you could have done to prevent him from getting in trouble with this.”

“I know, it’s just,” Gavin sighed, “doesn't feel right.”

There was a moment of silence between the two as Gavin took a drag from his cigarette and RK sipped his drink. He could feel RK’s eyes focused on him, but he found that he didn’t practically mind.

“You know, you look quite charming like this,” RK observed, breaking the silence.

“What? Slowly killing myself with nicotine?”

“Morally outraged,” RK corrected.

“What’s going to happen after this?” Gavin quietly asked.

“Well, you’ll turn in the Mask of  Grimpotheuthis and wait for your next case. I’ll submit my report to Cyberlife and then I’ll be sent to my next assignment on some other planet.”

“Don’t go,” Gavin whispered. He wasn’t even sure if he said it out loud until he saw the way RK’s gaze softened.

“I have to leave.” Gavin was now acutely aware that RK had put down his drink and was now standing very close. “I belong out there. Jumping from planet to planet, never staying in one place too long, that’s my life, Gavin.” The way RK said his name, god he didn’t want anyone else to ever say it but him. They were now so impossibly close. “But life can wait for one night,” RK murmured.

Gavin didn’t know who started the kiss. All he knew was the feeling of RK’s lips against his, his hands pulling at his coat, wrapping around his waist. It was … nice. He kissed with a passion that he couldn’t remember the last time he felt. The scent of his cologne was overwhelming. It was like RK was completely wrapped around him and he couldn’t think about anything else but the man in front of him. Or at least, mainly anything else. RK was like the sweetest drink Gavin had ever tasted and he couldn’t remember how he had lived without it. But when he broke away, he knew he already got more than he deserved.

“RK …” Gavin breathed out.

“Yes, Gavin?” RK whispered as he went to kiss Gavin’s jaw and moved down to his neck.

“Has anyone ever told you … that you’re under arrest?” Gavin finished as he clinked the handcuffs over RK’s wrists.

“Oh! Gavin,” RK pulled back with surprise, “I- I probably should have brought this up earlier, you see I’m not exactly interested in this aspect of relationships. It’s fine that you are, but we should probably-”

“I’m being serious RK, or Richard King, or whatever the fuck your real name is.”

“Ah. I take it from your tone that this is not part of some elaborate fantasy. Well then, I’ll humor you. Under arrest for what?”

“For the attempted theft of the Mask of  Grimpotheuthis .”

“I haven’t the faintest idea of what you’re talking about.”

“And for stealing the keys to my safe, right out of my pocket,” Gavin added as he grabbed the keys he saw RK grab while they had been kissing.

“Ah, that. Yes, that does seem more familiar. So I suppose this is the parlor room scene now. You’ll inform the audience how you knew it was me all along?” RK admitted with a cheeky grin on his face.

“Remember how I said that there were two things not sitting right with me? Well, this is the other one. Lazzo said that the door to the case was already opened before he got there. And you just so happen to have a key on you. Hidden glass syringes in the door handles, that’s why you kept opening the doors. I saw you put one into your pocket when I was questioning Lazzo. You pretended it didn’t exist, which is why I slipped one out of your pocket when you sent me after your plasma cutter.”

“I knew that was a risky plan, but you’re a hard man to refuse, Detective.”

“Yeah, well I took a picture of it and had Tina run a check on it. Turns out, the little tiny needle on it happens to be a prime way of collecting DNA samples. Which is pretty useful if you’re trying to open a case with a DNA based lock. I didn’t know for sure that something was up until Lazzo said that the case was already open.”

“Guilty as charged,” RK smiled, “You’re very impressive.”

“Obviously you were interrupted on your first attempt, which is why you came back again. And why you stole the key to my safe. I was getting suspicious with how well you knew your way around the mansion despite having never been there before, but then everything just lined up.”

“You’re very perceptive. When Lucius entered the room I had to hide and then when the whole gruesome murder took place, I had to make my escape. I memorized the entire floor plan as well as the camera angles weeks ago, making my job easier. Well done, Detective.”

“So Kamski was in on it too?”

“Who?” RK asked, confused, “You mean Cyberlife? No, no. As far as they are concerned, Agent Richard King was on their database approximately two hours after I saw the murder and he has since disappeared from their system about an hour ago give or take. I set it up to delete me automatically. I am not a paranormal specialist of any kind, merely an excellent actor who has watched a few documentaries here and there. I will say you’re quite remarkable. I was able to infiltrate the most high-tech agency in the galaxy, and yet it seems like I couldn’t fool you.”

“You got into Cyberlife on your own?”

“Not completely on my own. I have powerful friends. They’re quite useful when you’ve got powerful enemies.

“Just who the hell are you?”

“Depends where you ask. Though I suppose I hear ‘greatest thief who ever lived’ most commonly.”

“Who are you really?”

“What do you want? A name? Richard King is just as valid of a name for me as any other I can give you. Besides, what’s so important about names anyway? If you ask me, they’re terribly overrated. I am very much the kind of person who threw theirs into the raging inferno behind them years ago.”

“Cut the bullshit.”

“Sorry, but you’re not getting my real name. I wager that everyone who knew it at one point is either dead or has forgotten it by now. If I was going to reveal it, it would take someone very … important to me to tell them at this point. But enough about this, let’s change the subject shall we?”

Gavin checked his comms. He had already sent in the police report. “You’ve got about five minutes till the cops show up so make it quick.”

“Let’s talk about you, shall we? More precisely, your current situation. You see, the Fratellos aren’t exactly pleased with you after this. You’ve made some powerful enemies, Detective, and you’re running dry of powerful friends to protect you. New Detroit isn’t safe for you anymore.”

“I haven’t spent a day of my life without some general mortal danger or somebody wanting me dead. It’s never been safe here. This ain’t new.”

“No, but what is new is that you have extremely powerful people wanting you dead and little standing in the way to prevent them from achieving that.”

“What do you suggest then? That I pull a Cyberlife and hide out in the middle of nowhere?”

“I was thinking more along the lines of coming with me.”

“What? To prison?”

“No,” RK, or whoever he was, huffed in annoyance, “Out there. Into the galaxy. You and me going from city to city, planet to planet. Never letting the dust settle. Always on a new adventure. Think about it.”

Gavin did think about it as much as he didn’t want to do so. “God, you’re a wanted criminal minutes away from being taken down to the station and I’m a detective.”

“Your point?”

“My point is that it sounds like a really bad idea. It would be a disaster before we even were able to escape the city.”

“I don’t know about that. I think we make an excellent team. I’d say that we balance each other out well. Think about all we could accomplish together.”

“I-” Gavin started but he was cut off by someone pounding at the door. He went to open it, revealing two of the police officers waiting outside. “Come on in, officers,” he said as he led them to RK, or whatever the fuck his real name was.

“Not too surprised to see you spending the night with a thief, Reed,” one of the officers remarked. Gavin may have recognized him from his time on the force, but in all honesty, he didn’t actually remember who it was.

“Yeah, whatever,” Gavin shrugged, “I’ll be down by the station later to submit the evidence and all of that crap.”

“If you do, better bring a bulletproof vest. Still a lot of people with grudges for you there,” the officer replied as they went to take the thief.

“It could be quite an adventure, Gavin,” he said, giving Gavin that same goddamn look in his eyes like he did right before they kissed.

“I’m sure it will be,” Gavin replied, biting the inside of his cheek, reminding himself of all the reasons why it would be a bad idea to run away with him. “Wish I could come along,” he added softly.

And then, they were gone. Out the door and off to the New Detroit Police Station. Gavin put his face in his hands. He could still feel his lips against his own, his arms holding him, the smell of his cologne still hung in the air. Gavin felt like he was drowning in it all.

That’s when he saw it. A small folded up note from where RK had been standing. He must have written it with his hands cuffed or something. Gavin believed that man was capable of doing anything. The note was simple. It read:

_ Gavin Reed, _

_ If you wish to see me one last time, watch the public access feed for route 742. I suspect it would be somewhere by Andromada Way, though certainly not past Sunset View. _

_ I do hope that it’s not the last time, though. I meant everything I said. I do believe that we were meant to meet each other. We’d be an insatiable team out there together. We’ll have quite the adventure. _

_ Your better half, _

_ Nines Anderson _

“Fuck,” Gavin muttered and quickly dialed up Tina on his comms.

“Gav? What is it?”

“Tina, I need to get on a call with Elijah Kamski. Right now.”

“The Cyberlife guy? Isn’t that-”

“Just get me on the line with him dammit.”

He heard Tina sigh and begin typing. He'd have to thank her for everything later, but right now he was flipping through the channels of the video monitor, looking for Nines Anderson. He couldn’t wait for Kamski to get on the line.

“Where the hell are you, Nines?” he muttered exasperatedly until he suddenly struck the right channel.

It was right where he said it would be. Route 742. Andromeda Way. The police car was pulled to the side of the road, where the two officers who had left with Nines had been bound and gagged. They were stripped of their uniforms and wearing only their undershirts and boxers. And Nines Anderson was nowhere in sight.

“The hell, Gavin? This is a private line. The public isn’t supposed to have access to this. If you had to talk to me  _ that _ badly, you should have gotten Agent King to call. Where is he?” Kamski’s voice came through the comms’ speaker.

“Wish I knew.”

“The hell does that mean?”

“I’ll tell you all about it the next time our paths cross in a couple of decades,” Gavin responded as he disconnected from the line before Kamski could protest.

He slumped down into his chair, his mind swimming. This is just how things are in New Detroit. You think he’s your son, then he’s pushing you to your death. You think he’s your partner and then he … and then he’s just gone. You get hurt so you lick your wounds and keep going. The world gets a little bigger, a little meaner. Maybe you do too. Good things don’t happen to guys like Gavin Reed and he’s gotta learn to stop getting his hopes up.

Gavin tried to forget Nines. Tried to forget the way the man had made him feel. But his cologne had stayed in there for weeks. The smell of Nines Anderson hanging in the air, making him impossible to escape. He filled every minute of every day. The smell finally faded after a few weeks. And Gavin has missed it ever since.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope y'all liked that! I am considering making this into a multichapter where we go through some of the other arcs of season one of TPP and who knows maybe season 3 with some Ada and North as Buddy and Vespa? So if you're interested let me know and I'll start working on it after Artfest.
> 
> Anyways, stan The Penumbra Podcast. They're a bunch of independent queer creators who are all wonderfully talented and it seriously has like next-level representation. 
> 
> Keep an eye out for the other things I've got coming in the next few weeks. There's at least three more that I want to do but who knows? I may do more. I've already written two fics this month that I didn't originally intend to write.
> 
> Yell at me on Tumblr @chaotic-bi-incarnate and comments and kudos are always appreciated
> 
> Stay hydrated and stay safe lovelies!!!!


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